


Mysterious Instincts

by SereneSorrow



Series: Instincts [4]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Gotei 13!Ichigo, Hollow Mating Season, Implied Time Travel, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Turn Back the Pendulum Arc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:49:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29921961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SereneSorrow/pseuds/SereneSorrow
Summary: About a year after the mysterious man known as Ichigo-taicho saved them from Aizen Sosuke and their own hollowfication, Kisuke and his fellow Vizards are summoned to a meeting by the man for some startling news.~Anyone up for a day trip to Hueco Mundo?~This story is based on the idea of my other Instincts Series stories, but with the characters/alternate world from my story Mystery, Mystery. It isn't a sequel to either, just an AU.
Relationships: Coyote Starrk/Urahara Kisuke
Series: Instincts [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1657024
Kudos: 12





	Mysterious Instincts

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Mystery, Mystery](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17668688) by [SereneSorrow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SereneSorrow/pseuds/SereneSorrow). 



> This story isn't really a sequel to either the Instincts Series or Mystery, Mystery. I did try to leave it close enough that you could pretend that it is for either or both of them though, but officially I'm keeping this as AU of both.
> 
> So I've had a lot of thoughts about Starrk, and I decided that Starrk is lieutenant/low captain strength, and has terrible if any reiatsu control (like early canon Ichigo), and I realized that the way Starrk absorbs the souls around him also seems like an uncontrolled version of whatever Yammy did to suck out everyone's souls when he and Ulquiorra visited Karakura, so again that's practically proof that Starrk just doesn't have control of his high reiatsu, like Ichigo. It doesn't mean that he has god-level power like most of the stories I've read, which seems reasonable to me because you never see Starrk wiping the floor with Aizen.

It was an awkward feeling, being back here again in this group. Though it was something of a relief to be here without supervision as though they were children (or still a danger to everyone around them) and Kisuke was glad briefly that everything had worked out as well as it had.

They had all been gathered in the (no longer secret) training ground again, and the Vizards as they had come to be called all felt like academy students again while they were waiting for Ichigo-taicho to explain why he'd called them all here. Shinji didn't know, as was made very clear when they all pestered him relentlessly beforehand. Gin drifted over to stand beside his captain because he was still not quite comfortable with the rest of them, or maybe that went the other way 'round.

It had been a little over a year since they'd been hollowfied, and they had gained enough control over their hollows to be allowed to return to duty, though everyone was still wary of them. It was best for those squads who had both a captain and lieutenant that had been hollowfied, because they were able to work together as well as before, whereas the captains that didn't have the support or understanding of their lieutenants and vice versa were often finding their orders undermined despite all efforts to the contrary from the Vizards.

Kisuke himself had faced quite a lot of difficulty from Sarugaki-fukutaicho, as if she didn't have enough reason to dislike him already now she seemed to truly despise him, and it seemed no matter what he did there was no way to win her over. Now that they were working toward regaining the acceptance they had already possessed before Aizen had attacked them they were all understandably wary of the reason that Ichigo-taicho might have to call this meeting without any indication of the reason for it.

Ichigo-taicho stood before them, his heavily scarred face as stoic and unconsciously grim as ever, and then he surprised them by actually displaying a bit of awkwardness. He sighed, and his eyes darted away from them briefly, while he actually ran a hand through his bright orange hair. Shinji himself was looking a bit worried for his partner, but Kisuke was more worried about the rest of them.

“So, there's one thing more that you need to know about having inner hollows.” Ichigo said, his expression returning to that grim scowl.

“Something else? What more of a problem could we possibly have beyond _having_ inner hollows?” Lisa demanded, her glasses gleaming in the light of the training ground.

“It's not so much a problem, at least not from the hollow's perspective.” Ichigo-taicho stated plainly, but his words were rather upsetting to the rest of them because they implied yet again that Ichigo-taicho was far more in tune with his own inner hollow than the rest of them were, which was something that had been bothering several of them for quite a while.

“Well then what would you call this secret 'thing' that you're only now revealing to us? I'm sure _your_ hollow just told you all about it, huh?” Kensei demanded to know, arms folded while Mashiro blinked between them.

“Well my hollow was rather forthcoming about it, yes.” Ichigo-taicho blinked slowly, and to Kisuke it rather appeared as though he was surprised by the hostility, what a mysterious reaction.

“Okay, okay. Let's just calm down and get this over with. What is it Ichigo?” Shinji asked as he came between the two before Kensei could start a fight.

“About every two to three years, it's not a very clear calendar date, hollows have to go through a certain period of behavior. It only lasts for around a day but there's no avoiding it. The most accurate term to describe it would be Mating Season.” Ichigo-taicho said with a straight face to the quiet and then appalled shinigami before him.

The entire group stared at him, each and every one of them having no idea what to say. Ichigo-taicho didn't speak again, giving them time to process his words, and the still air of the training ground was silent.

“What?” Kisuke croaked, sure that he must have misunderstood.

Several of the Vizards looked pale at the revelation. Shinji placed a hand on Gin's shoulder even though none of them could quite tell what the boy was thinking, and Kensei had shifted protectively in front of Mashiro.

“Mating Season. You're going to transform into your hollow forms whether you like it or not, and you won't come out of it until you've mated with someone. Ideally a hollow or another Vizard since you don't want to hurt anyone you attack at random in your squads.” Ichigo-taicho's last words were said with certainty, he was very sure that all of them would agree that attacking their squad-mates and subordinants was the last thing they wanted.

“What do you mean 'with a hollow'? You actually expect us to... Are you insane?” Lisa looked like she wanted to grab the man by the collar and shake him until he admitted that this was all a big joke.

“We're going to Hueco Mundo, so yes, there will be hollows. Even this place isn't secure enough, in a full hollow transformation and with every one of us running on instincts we can't be contained the way we were when you all learned to work with your inner hollows. Likewise, it would be better if the rest of the Gotei didn't see just how out of control we can get, they mistrust us enough as it is.” Ichigo-taicho's words made them all shift nervously, once again reminded that despite being longtime friends with so many of the people around them it was only this small group that they could truly trust not to see them differently after the hollowfication.

“In any case, we do have to work with each other after this, a lot of awkwardness will be avoided if we don't have only each other to pair off with.” Ichigo-taicho said pragmatically.

“Oh yeah, easy for you to say, you and Shinji are already sleeping together!” Lisa snapped, which made Gin chuckle even though he hadn't brushed Shinji's hand from his shoulder yet.

“Ichigo, you are springing this on us fairly suddenly, when exactly is this thing happening?” Shinji finally cut in again, sounding worried.

“We should leave within the hour.” Ichigo-taicho plainly revealed just how little forewarning he was giving them.

So, no time to prepare, or try to find other solutions to the problem. No time to run for it either, which seems to have been what Lisa would have preferred. She must be in denial, and now that he thought about it, Kisuke did feel something odd about his inner hollow. There had been a very faint thread of tension there for a few days, but he had ignored it in favor of his experiments and he'd thought that it would simply go away. How unscientific of him.

“How exactly are we getting to Hueco Mundo?” Kisuke asked, wondering if Ichigo-taicho had access to a senkaimon that he hadn't been aware of.

“I'll open a garganta.” Ichigo-taicho's answer floored them all.

“How?” Kisuke demanded, he hadn't even considered that they might be able to utilize that hollow ability, yet another way that Ichigo-taicho had far outstripped the rest of them in working _with_ his inner hollow while the rest of them still struggled to truly build any kind of rapport.

“Ogichi taught me. He's looking forward to this.” Ichigo-taicho's answers had a habit of leaving a lot unsaid, much to the annoyance of anyone questioning him and this was no different.

“Ogichi?” Kisuke asked faintly.

“He's got a name?” Mashiro sounded curious.

“That's just your name backwards.” Shinji pointed out, as he had immediately spotted the inverted name.

“Well he is my reflection.” Ichigo-taicho pointed out.

“So do they all have names like that?” Mashiro asked, looking as though she was trying to spell her own name backwards in her mind.

“If that's the name they want, or want you to give them, I suppose. They might want something different than mine.” Ichigo-taicho looked a bit impatient with the turn in the conversation but several of the Vizards seemed more comfortable being diverted with something frivolous.

“So that would be, Orisham?” Mashiro continued puzzling as the rest of them briefly considered the idea of their inner hollows having or wanting names.

“Well. Let's just get this over with then.” Kensei said with a gruff sigh as he eyed Mashiro still mumbling to herself with briefly heard mutterings of “Iesnek... Isenek... Iseken!” as she tried out names for _his_ inner hollow.

“I do have to ask, you're including Gin in this? You're sure he'll be affected?” Shinji asked his partner, and indeed Gin was the youngest of them all, not looking anywhere close to even one hundred and fifty yet.

“Unfortunately yes, two or three decades younger and he wouldn't be but at this point it's unavoidable.” Ichigo-taicho's words were as calmly delivered as always but they could all at least catch a brief flicker of his own discomfort at the idea of the kid having to go through this strange and uncomfortable phase as well.

“Alright then, fine! Let's just do it before I change my mind!” Lisa yelled, the least composed that any of them had ever seen her.

With a nod Ichigo-taicho raked a hand down his face and easily summoned his mask as though he did it every day. The way he seemed entirely indifferent to the power of the hollow inside him was always a subject of amazement for the rest of them, but this time Kisuke was distracted from his observations of the mysterious captain of the eleventh division by the sudden line slicing horizontally through the air beside Ichigo-taicho. It sliced up and down into strips that slid away from each other easily to reveal the gaping black maw of the garganta and Kisuke wondered if Ichigo-taicho would let him bring some equipment to study the hollows' means of travel sometime.

Before he had a chance to ask, Ichigo-taicho had already stepped into the abyss and the rest of the Vizards were forced to follow quickly, the longer the gateway was open the more likely it was to be recorded on the Seireitei's alert system despite the security of the training ground. As soon as they were all inside and racing after Ichigo-taicho toward Hueco Mundo, the doorway slid closed behind them and the Vizards realized that this was really happening and began to feel nervous even as their inner hollows' excitement grew.

Leaping out of the garganta and into the desert world of the hollows was an experience. There was already something in the air that tickled something in his brain and thrummed in time with his senses and heartbeat and Kisuke had to use all of his training and self-control to hold himself back from running out into the desert immediately. Looking around at the other Vizard he could see that they were all having similar reactions to the hollow world.

“We'll leave everything here, and make our way back once we're done. You should be aware of what happens but you won't have much control over it, so it's best if you just let it happen and don't think too much.” Ichigo-taicho explained as he removed his zanpakutō and already started stripping out of his clothing without a care in the world.

The rest of them were more hesitant, not of the nudity but of the situation, being exposed in _Hueco Mundo_ was not something to make light of. Still, Kisuke stripped out of his haori and shihakushō beside the others, reluctantly laying aside Benihime and stepping back while Tessai layered a kido barrier over their swords to keep them hidden from anyone but their wielders before Ichigo-taicho began striding purposefully up the nearest sand dune. His mask was still in place and he seemed indifferent to the confusion and discomfort the rest of them were feeling in the wake of the strange calling from within that sang through their blood.

“Shinji!” He called back over his shoulder from the top of the dune, and the other captain jumped but scurried up after him.

Ah, of course, they were already lovers. Kisuke was temporarily jealous, that made it easier for them at least, while the rest of them would have to find some true hollow to _mate_ with. Well, there was no time like the present, he may as well just get this over with. Kisuke was reluctant to acknowledge even to himself that he had been hearing his inner hollow trying to persuade him to draw on his mask ever since he had arrived in the training ground for the meeting. Glancing aside, seeing Mashiro was the first to find the confidence to follow Ichigo-taicho and Shinji up the dune and away from their arrival point, Kisuke gathered his own courage and followed from several feet behind and to the side of her.

_'Let me out! Let us be free! Kisuke you bastard, it's time!'_ The inner voice screamed, and Kisuke idly mused if that was the voice of 'Kesuki', or if his hollow had a name at all.

Kisuke clenched his fists and held himself back despite the voice of his hollow growing louder in his ears. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath to steady himself he thought he could almost breathe again when his attention was returned rather abruptly to the desert around them. His eyes snapped open again as he felt his pulse pick up and he took in the feeling and sight.

Farther ahead of them reiatsu flared and they could see that Ichigo-taicho and Shinji were both already transforming into hollows, and Kisuke felt a twist of dark longing and lust in his gut at the sight of arching horns and a long white tail as Ichigo-taicho's hands became long and clawed. He couldn't deny the urge to draw his mask any longer when he saw the large paws and heavily muscled cat-legs that had replaced Shinji's lower half. Dragging his own hand down his face to bring forth the contoured mask that fit perfectly around the edges of his face Kisuke let himself go.

It felt _right_ , finally letting the mask slide into place, the frustrating struggle to control himself ending and more difficult thoughts sliding away as he let the reiatsu of the desert lick at his skin and twine with his own as he raised it. There were other hollows around him, he could feel them, half-familiar reiatsu that was something like his own and perhaps equal in strength. He felt his back bow as he shuddered and felt his true form break free of the weaker shell that imprisoned him, his skin toughening and his limbs bursting free to plunge into the sand around him to raise him higher from the ground.

He didn't need to see to map his targets, didn't need to turn and look when he could feel them so clearly. The two strongest hollows in front of him, the bull and the lion, had run off to find their own territory so he would have to find another mate. Picking his way forward he searched for the best place to settle into, somewhere with more angles, more anchors than the sand. Picking up his pace he finally came across something useful, the glitter of trees calling to him, just the perfect place to lay his traps.

The web he spun across the entire length of the forest in record time was a work of art, each strand spreading his reiatsu wider over the landscape to claim his territory and draw his targets, prey, and potential mates to him. Weak snacks were becoming ensnared even before he was finished, but he sucked them dry through the strands of his web before their flailing could tear his masterpiece. The familiar ones, those who _-felt-like-him-_ were ensnared as well but he let them be for some reason, though he approached them briefly. Probing at them with his long legs and trying to decide if they would be good mates, each of them disappointing him as they failed to escape his web. The dragonfly and grasshopper would be so easy to eat, and the ape and cobra just twisted uselessly in his web as though they were only trying to escape and were not even interested in mating! How frustrating, he went farther along his web and ignored the tiny hollow that skirted the edges of his web, too weak to be of interest though the fox's intelligence made him _want_.

_-heat-hunger-need-_

Raced through him and he pierced his legs into a weak, dying thing, sucking the reiatsu out of it directly.

_-bruning-rage-want-_

Blinded him as he circled his web again and again, disdaining the panther that struggled more strongly than the others though it was still weak, until something magnificent caught his attention.

_-heavy-hungry-strong-_

Reiatsu flooding out around the hollow in a suffocating, invisible mist. He skittered closer to the edge of his web, where he could see the wolf, glowing blue-grey eyes set in a lupine mask roving over the lines of his web and the food trapped within. The wolf kept to a distance, but he didn't want that. The weight of his heavy reiatsu was a perfect challenge for his web, he raised two of his legs over his head in a challenging display himself to draw the wolf to fight him.

Still hesitating, so he tossed a line of his web out at the wolf, feeling it strike the wolf's side and begin leaching reiatsu from the slightly smaller hollow. Shivering already, he yanked as if his webbing was strong enough to reel the wolf into his web, though he knew it wasn't. The wolf took the challenge though, suddenly snapping through the line with his teeth and darting forward, leaping over him and slipping through the wide outer lines of the web to continue racing below the large web. He skittered around and chased the wolf, feeling the weight of the wolf's reiatsu and it's hungry pull settling _-over-around-through-_ his web.

A thrum resonated through him as he stabbed downward through his web at the wolf, weak hollows disintegrating under either the pull of his web or the weight of the wolf's presence were ignored as they circled each other, each trying to catch the other off guard. He shot more lines of web down toward the sand, laced to the nearest trees but the wolf moved their battlefield to another part of the web, and then-

He stabbed down at the wolf again, his long upper left leg glancing off a large rock as the wolf lept aside and turned in a tight circle and then-

Then, blinding pain, jaws snapping shut on the limb and teeth digging in through _hierro_. Teeth grinding and a long limb torn in half by those teeth, spewing blood and making him stumble downward, slipping half-way through his own web. The wolf lept at his other leg on the right and pulled with all his weight behind him as his teeth snapped shut on the limb as well. More pain, though the first limb was already regenerating. He fell forward as his second limb twisted and the wolf dragged him down, his back legs leaving the web as he crashed into the sand.

_-pulsing-thrumming-throbbing-pain-excitement-_

The wolf twisted out of the way of his falling body and out from under his savaged leg, jumping up onto his back with claws digging into the larger joints of his long legs.

_-shivering-aching-thrilling-need-_

His legs twitched but fell still under the small paws on his back.

_-breathing-scenting-touching-_

A vocalization of need clawed from his throat and hips bucked up in frustration while the wolf stood over him unmoving.

_-Waiting-Why-Mating-Now-_

He screeched again in fury at being denied after a fulfilling fight and proof of their compatibility. The wolf growled and leaned forward, jaws meeting at the back of his neck and pressing enough to make him still.

_-finally-mate-fill-_

The wolf shifted back, paws moving over him, hips crouching down and pressing against his own. A hard length of hierro covered flesh rubbing against him, sliding in- A clicking stutter-y sound vibrated from his throat as the wolf grunted and wiggled his hips, the hardness inside digging deeper before _-moving-sliding-rutting-hard-_

He pushed his hips back and up, the wolf pushing down again and the reiatsu above crashing against his glowing web as the wolf moved _-faster-much faster-much harder-_

Eager motion, swelling flesh, long limbs digging uselessly through the sand in four directions. Small limbs digging in too, pushing him up but falling back, not under the weight of reiatsu but under the warning growl rumbling behind him. Rumbling turning to a vibrating tease through the press of body to body. Sounds caught in his throat and _-pleasure inside-surging through-washing out-_ he screamed in an ear-splitting shriek as he collapsed in a puddle against the sand.

The wolf kept _-pounding-inside-taking-claiming-_

Then shuddering _-marking-filling-mating-satisfying-_

The wolf howled to the dark sky peeking through the webs above and collapsed in a heap of warm fur on top of him. Heated length still inside, sleep took them both with the satisfaction still heady in both bodies curled over and around each other.

It wasn't a long sleep, and Kisuke awoke as his long spider-limbs were crumbling away, his mask still only half-cracked away and his mind still spinning with the blending of his mind and his hollow. The instincts that had driven him to mate with a hollow still sending faint shivers through his body, under his skin. It wasn't just his instincts, he realized, at the same moment he felt a body shift behind him. Fight or flight instincts and Onmitsukido training warred with lethargy and belonging. Freezing, as much as he could while his spider-limbs shifted and crumbled around him, Kisuke slowly looked over his shoulder and took in the grey-furred wolf with bony plates of white armor over his spine from the base of his tail up to the wolf-faced mask covering his face. There were similar plates over the top of his paws and he was a rather small hollow, roughly the same size as a human actually, and yet clearly very strong. The heavy reiatsu spilling into the air all around him was uncontrolled and dangerous, though Kisuke had learned to insulate himself with his own reiatsu when faced with the unleashed reiatsu of others. He judged the hollow to be perhaps at the strength level of a strong lieutenant, though the fact that he couldn't control his reiatsu output spoke of high natural reiryoku reserves. The draining effect that his reiatsu produced when in contact with other hollows was likely a circular cycle, feeding his reiatsu and making it easier to feed at the same time.

Kisuke forced himself to stop thinking about how the hollows powers worked in favor of keeping himself alive, he was after all missing his zanpakutō. Was that an oversight on Ichigo-taicho's part? How were they meant to survive long enough to return to their entry point? Licking his lips, and regretting it instantly when sand coated his tongue, he caught the gaze of the hollow behind him. He was looking back at Kisuke, giving off a sense of tiredness but possessing a glimmer of interest in the blue-grey eyes that observed Kisuke through that mask. Kisuke felt the last of his mask break away, the whole right side of his face uncovered in one motion, and the wolf twitched in surprise.

“You can take off your mask?” The wolf hollow asked in a slow, rumbling voice.

“Ah... yes... I can.” Kisuke was unsure of what was happening now, were they really going to have a conversation?

Struggling not to dwell on things that he had not safe time to contemplate, the shock that he could build a spiderweb and that he would want to as well as the tingling feeling still skating under his skin from the wolf's proximity, Kisuke looked around. He really needed to find the others, he didn't like his chances with even this one hollow, with only kido and hand to hand combat at his disposal. Kisuke shifted, trying not to appear nervous, and got to his knees. When nothing horrible happened to him he stood up, only to freeze in shock when the hollow stood up and circled him.

“You don't look like a hollow at all. You feel like something else.” The hollow observed as he ended the circle and stood a few feet away, still looking Kisuke up and down.

“I'm... not. Not entirely a hollow, though this 'Mating Season' still affects me it seems.” Kisuke volunteered, his mind was racing because this hollow didn't seem violent at all, didn't even seem to be interested in fighting him.

“You're not dead yet.” The wolf noted, and glanced aside.

Kisuke followed his gaze and noticed several dissipating hollow bodies surrounding them on all sides. Ah, yes, because the wolf's uncontrolled reiatsu was draining the reiatsu of anything not strong enough to insulate themselves against stronger opponents. He also noticed that his web was collapsing, and several hollows caught within were tearing themselves free and struggling away from them.

“No, while your reiatsu certainly has an interesting effect I happen to know how to bolster my body with my own reiatsu, I don't believe you can kill me that way.” Kisuke didn't know why he was conversing with the hollow as though it was normal, he just didn't get the feeling that he was in danger.

Well, the hollow wasn't trying to eat him, so he supposed that he was safe... in a way. Perhaps it had to do with this 'Mating Season' business... or this hollow in particular... Kisuke found himself walking in the direction he thought that he remembered starting out from, with the hollow at his side. He came close enough for his fur to brush Kisuke's hip, and then he would wander away several feet, always glancing back at Kisuke but never moving any farther away.

As they reached the edge of his web he found Kensei and Mashiro just breaking out of their own hollow transformations, and he held back until they were able to strengthen their own reiatsu against the wolf hollow's oppressive pressure. Still, the wolf looked between him and the other two, and hung back farther even though he didn't leave.

“Seriously? He's not coming home with us, is he?” Kensei asked incredulously as he tore webbing off of his shoulder and stood up with a grimace in Kisuke's direction.

Kisuke shrugged sheepishly as the three, well four, of them stumbled through the sand. They collected Tessai and Lisa along the way and came upon their landing point to see Ichigo-taicho and Shinji already half-dressed and waiting for them. The shock of it was that Ichigo-taicho's hair was now suddenly grown down to his hips, just a bit longer than Shinji's though more ragged in appearance, not that Shinji's hair wasn't in disarray as well. Ichigo-taicho looked over at the wolf and for a moment Kisuke was worried, although he wasn't sure why. Then Ichigo-taicho nodded to the wolf and he nodded back, though hesitantly, and apparently that was enough for Ichigo-taicho to ignore him from then on.

“Gin isn't back yet. We may have to go looking for him.” Ichigo-taicho said with a frown that pulled at the scars on his face.

“Seriously? Did we have to bring the kid? You're sure he was affected?” Lisa demanded.

“Yes he was affected, it wouldn't have been safe to leave him behind.” Ichigo-taicho insisted.

“What if he got eaten? Or just plain killed?” Lisa continued, arms crossed over her chest and eyes squinting tightly without her glasses as she glared at Ichigo-taicho.

“I don't think he's dead.” Ichigo-taicho's opinion wasn't nearly certain enough for the rest of them to feel comfortable.

Kisuke realized that this was the first time he had seen Ichigo-taicho with his chest bared, and the scars that just brushed the edges of his neck and exposed portion of his chest were in fact deep cuts that had scarred in raised lines the farther down his torso they went. Rippling over his ribs and including what looked like a burn near his hip. Kisuke tore his gaze away and looked in the direction that Ichigo was watching. To the right of their current position if one was looking toward the forest of crystalline trees where Kisuke had built his web. He couldn't sense anything in that particular direction himself, but then he vaguely recalled a memory of a small hollow not even half the size of the wolf skirting the edge of his web along that side. Had that been Gin? If so, then he might indeed have gone in that direction.

Kisuke strode forward to collect his own clothing and zanpakutō, the rest already sliding into their own garments, and by the time they were all dressed Gin had still not returned. Worried a bit now himself, Kisuke turned to ask Ichigo-taicho if they truly needed to search when the captain stood and strode off in that direction without a word. Shinji hastily collected Gin's clothes and carefully picked up his zanpakutō in the folds of the shihakushō so as not to touch it with his own hands, not only disrespectful but potentially dangerous depending on the zanpakutō, before he followed after Ichigo-taicho.

They walked up and down several sand dunes before Ichigo-taicho stopped suddenly and raised a hand to halt them all. In the distance, if he squinted, Kisuke could make out the shape of a hollow approaching them. They waited as the hollow approached, and Kisuke observed it's shape. It too was smaller than most hollows that Kisuke was familiar with and surprisingly it was entirely white. Almost humanoid but with bat wings and horns protruding from either side of it's head.

“What are we standing here for?” Mashiro asked while Lisa fingered her sword.

“He has Gin.” Ichigo-taicho said and Kisuke blinked, looking back again.

It was true, Gin was on the hollow's back, over the hollow's shoulder he could see a shaggy mop of disordered silver hair. Twenty feet away from them the hollow stopped, and crouched down while Gin stumbled to his feet and out from behind him. Kisuke wasn't sure what to think when Gin looked up at the now-standing hollow who hesitantly ran a hand over Gin's hair and then nodded to Ichigo-taicho before looking at the wolf standing beside Kisuke.

Gin slowly made his way over to them and took his clothes from Shinji, but Kisuke's attention was caught by the way the wolf hollow and the bat hollow observed each other. Kisuke's eyes trailed over the wolf, who after a moment seemed to sense him looking and turned to face him.

“Perhaps we will meet again, spider.” The wolf hollow rumbled quietly with a dip of his head.

Kisuke nodded back and watched as the wolf and the bat looked back at each other again and then moved away from them in the same general direction. Kisuke wondered if they were going to speak to each other or fight, or if they would break off from each other and move in different directions.

“You're okay?” Ichigo-taicho gruffly asked Gin.

Kisuke was amazed that he actually seemed awkward, when so far he had taken everything in stride, but perhaps he had been so blunt with everything to mask his own worry or discomfort. Gin nodded, looking embarrassed, and Shinji frowned before crouching down in front of his now dressed lieutenant.

“Do I need to go teach that hollow a lesson?” Shinji asked seriously, the 'in manners' part of that sentence dropped in favor of a lethal threat.

“N-no. Ulquiorra didn't do anything.” Gin's gaze darted around as his cheeks colored, and Kisuke had to refrain from making a joke due to the seriousness of the situation.

“He didn't- I mean- Some other hollows attacked me... I think they wanted to eat me, but Ulquiorra killed them and then we just... cuddled?” Gin looked more embarrassed than hurt, and Kisuke was intrigued.

“It wasn't... mating... he sort of... petted me? And it made all the... The weird feelings go away and... I think I was trying to groom him except... he doesn't have fur... but it made sense when I was a fox...” Gin trailed off, staring at the sand in front of his shoes.

Shinji scratched his head but clapped a hand on Gin's shoulder and when the boy didn't flinch they all took that as a good sign, and a sign that Gin was telling the truth. Ichigo-taicho shook himself, a move that made Kisuke think he was still a bit attuned to his inner hollow, and then turned back to the rest of them.

“Well here's as good a place as any, if everyone's ready to go back to soul society?” Ichigo-taicho asked them all, and when they all nodded with various looks of desperation to return and try to forget about this rather awkward and disturbing day he donned his mask again and tore open another garganta.

For Kisuke's part, while he was still rather uncomfortable with the whole experience (and having it sprung on him at the last minute when he couldn't prepare and hypothesize) he was actually looking forward to interrogating Ichigo-taicho about the whole process. The hollows that he and Gin had mated with had been solicitous to them afterward, not seeming to be a threat at all, and he dearly wanted to know if that was a state that would last or if they were to meet those hollows at another time they would be facing a fight.

Then there was the very mechanics of the whole thing, so many hollows of so many sizes and shapes, he had seen for himself how many hollows were killed during the last day. It was incredible that their numbers recovered enough to continue menacing the living world. Then again, he had never been to Hueco Mundo before, he doubted that a single one of the hollows he had just seen would be a common sight in the living world.They were all so strong too, that wolf possessed _lieutenant_ level reiatsu for goodness sake! He was so powerful that he could have been a real threat to half their party, if hollows such as him came to soul society or invaded the living world it could be a disaster, and there were so many hollows nearly as strong as the wolf, even if they hadn't been a match for Kisuke. The wolf was one in how many? He couldn't be an anomaly, where there was one there were more, and Kisuke didn't know if he was more excited by the prospect of studying menos level hollows or worried about just what dangers lurked in the depths of that great white desert.

After all, they would be spending a day in Hueco Mundo once every two to three years, Kisuke would have both opportunities to study and near death experiences. Kisuke shook his head to dispel his current thoughts and lept into the garganta, but as it slipped closed behind him he wondered if he _would_ meet the wolf again, in three years.

**Author's Note:**

> So yes, the panther that got caught in the web was Adjuchas Grimmjow, he escaped. And it's before Starrk split himself in two so Lilynette isn't there.
> 
> and everyone's hollow forms are based on these animals:  
> Ichigo - pretty much the bull/lizard/dragon thing he is in canon  
> Shinji - sphinx (which is male in the Egyptian version)  
> Mashiro - grasshopper  
> Lisa - dragonfly  
> Gin - fox  
> Kisuke - spider  
> Kensei - ape (closest thing I could think of at the moment based on his hollowfied form in the TBTP arc)  
> Tessai - cobra (based on his wide and collorful collared coat in the TBTP arc)
> 
> and their inner hollow's names would be these:  
> Ichigo - Ogichi Shiro (this Ichigo never admitted to having a last name, so everyone only knows him as Ichigo or Ichigo-taicho)  
> Hirako Shinji - Ijnihs Shiroko (Shiroko=white and a word that comes after a woman's name, child)  
> Kuna Mashiro - Orisham Shirona (Shirona apparently means white fruit trees?)  
> Muguruma Kensei - Iseken Shiroma  
> Tsukabishi Tessai - Iasset Shirobishi  
> Yadomaru Lisa - Sali Shiromaru  
> Urahara Kisuke - Kesuki Shirohara  
> Ichimaru Gin - Nig Shiromaru (Shiromaru apparently is a name meaning white circle? and yeah, Gin's hollow and Lisa's hollow have the same last name, i might change that later... probably not)


End file.
